• The Yankees have signed righty Cole Kimball to a minor league deal, reports Matt Eddy of Baseball America. Kimball, 28, had spent his entire career with the Nationals organization, making a brief big league debut in 2011 with a 1.93 ERA in 14 innings (though he both struck out and walked 7.1 batters per nine). Since then, however, Kimball has struggled with shoulder issues. In 2012, he threw just 5 2/3 minor league innings. Last year, splitting time between Rookie ball and Triple-A, Kimball posted a 7.31 ERA in 28 1/3 innings with 8.9 K/9 against 4.8 BB/9.
• Catcher Omir Santos has inked a minor league pact with the Pirates, the club announced today. The 32-year-old got just one plate appearance last year with the Indians, and has only one season of substantial MLB time under his belt. In 2009 with the Mets, Santos hit .260/.296/.391 in 306 plate appearances. In 222 plate appearances at the Triple-A level last year, he slashed .248/.285/.354.
• The MLBTR DFA Tracker features four situations awaiting resolution, led by Emilio Bonifacio of the Royals, who is set to be claimed, traded, released, or outrighted by the end of the weekend. He is joined in DFA limbo by Brett Wallace (Astros), Donovan Hand (Brewers), and Jimmy Paredes (Marlins).

• Catcher Omir Santos has signed a minor league deal (that contains an invite to Major League Spring Training) with the Pirates, the team announced via press release. The 32-year-old spent the 2013 campaign with the Indians organization, batting .248/.285/.354 with three homers in 222 plate appearances at Triple-A Columbus. Santos, who went hitless in one at-bat with the Indians' Major League club last year, is a career .248/.280/.363 hitter in 349 big league PAs.
• The White Sox announced that they've outrighted right-hander Deunte Heath to Triple-A in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for Mitchell Boggs, whose deal is now official. Heath, 28, has yielded 11 runs in 9 2/3 big league innings but owns a career 3.70 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 233 1/3 Triple-A innings.
• The Royals announced that left-hander Everett Teaford has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Omaha. The 29-year-old southpaw was designated for assignment when the team acquired outfielder Carlos Peguero from the Mariners in late January. Teaford has a career 4.25 ERA with 5.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 43.8 percent ground-ball rate in 106 big league innings to go along with a solid track record at the Triple-A level.
• With Teaford's outright, there are only two players that are currently in DFA limbo: Brett Wallace of the Astros and Emilio Bonifacio of the Royals.

• The Tigers have signed right-hander Jeremy Bonderman to a minor league contract and he will report to Triple-A Toledo, the team announced on its Twitter feed. Bonderman rejoins the Tigers organization, where he pitched from 2003-2010, after refusing an outright assignment by the Mariners Thursday and electing free agency. The 30-year-old was designated for assignment Monday after posting a 4.93 ERA, 3.8 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 0.94 HR/9, and 42.5% groundball rate in 38 1/3 innings over seven starts for the Mariners.  
• The Indians announced that they have outrighted catcher Omir Santos to Triple-A Columbus.  Santos, who has experience in parts of five MLB seasons with the Orioles, Mets, Tigers, and Indians, has a career .266/.303/.351 slash line at the Triple-A level.

Edward Creech contributed to this post.

• The Indians announced that they signed catcher Omir Santos to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to Spring Training (Twitter link). Santos, 31, appeared in three games for the Tigers in 2012. He spent most of the season with the Triple-A affiliates of the Tigers and Rockies, posting a .310/.318/.429 batting line in 212 plate appearances. Santos has experience in parts of four MLB seasons with the Orioles, Mets and Tigers.

Santos appeared in three games with Detroit this month after the Tigers promoted him from Triple-A Toledo, where he had a .310/.315/.417 batting line in 89 plate appearances. Santos also appeared in 11 games with last year's Tigers team and has MLB experience in four seasons. He is a Praver/Shapiro client.

• The Tigers announced that they outrighted Omir Santos to Triple-A (Twitter link). However, the catcher declined the assignment and is now a free agent, according to the Detroit Free Press (on Twitter). The Tigers designated the 31-year-old for assignment two days ago after he appeared in three games with the big league club. He posted a .310/.315/.417 batting line in 89 plate appearances at Triple-A before the Tigers added him to their roster.
• The Giants signed third baseman Russ Mitchell, according to the team's website. Mitchell, 27, appeared in 25 games for last year's Dodgers team, posting a .157/.259/.294 batting line in 58 plate appearances. He has a .265/.325/.444 batting line in ten minor league seasons and can play first and second base, as well as third.

Santos, 31, has been removed from and added to the Tigers' roster a number of times in recent years. He appeared in three games with Detroit this month after the Tigers promoted him from Triple-A Toledo, where he had a .310/.315/.417 batting line in 89 plate appearances. Santos also appeared in 11 games with last year's Tigers team and has MLB experience in four seasons.

• The Reds announced that they outrighted Daryl Thompson and Jared Burton off of the 40-man roster.  Burton would have been arbitration eligible for the second time and MLBTR projected a salary in the $900K range for the 30-year-old.
• The Pirates announced that they outrighted Brian Burres, Kevin Hart, Brandon Wood and Steve Pearce to Triple-A to create 40-man roster space.  All four players can now elect free agency.  Wood and Pearce would have been arbitration eligible for the first time this offseason, and though neither player projected to earn even $1MM, the Pirates decided to cut them loose instead of tendering contracts.
• The Tigers outrighted catcher Omir Santos and lefty Brad Thomas, tweets MLB.com's Jason Beck.  Thomas would have been arbitration eligible, but it was clear he wouldn't make it to the point of being tendered a contract after missing much of the season with an elbow injury.

• The Mets signed Russ Adams and Dusty Ryan to minor league contracts, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. The Blue Jays made Adams their first round pick in 2002, but he disappointed in parts of five seasons in Toronto, batting .247/.313/.372. The Blue Jays drafted Adams as a shortstop, but he has big league experience at second base and in left field. Ryan, 26, batted .199/.333/.349 for the Padres' Triple-A affiliate in 2010. He had cameos with the Tigers in 2008 and 2009.
• Oddly enough, the Tigers signed a former Mets backstop today. MLB.com's Jason Beck reports that Detroit added Omir Santos on a minor league deal (Twitter link). The 29-year-old last appeared in the majors on the 2009 Mets.
• The Phillies signed right-hander Brian Bass, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer (on Twitter). The 28-year-old has a 5.16 ERA with 5.1 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 183 major league innings.

• Carlos Beltran says he'd prefer to play center field, but is open to playing right, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo (on Twitter). Beltran also told reporters he would consider waiving his no-trade clause.
• Sherman predicts the Yankees will sign Lee to a five-year $125MM deal. The imagined contract would pay Lee $23MM for five seasons with a sixth year option for $25MM ($10MM buyout).
• The Yankees say they're extremely unlikely to pursue a free agent catcher, since they want to give their young catching a real chance to emerge in 2011 as Jorge Posada transitions to DH.
• Mark Simon of ESPNNewYork.com looks back at some recent contracts to prove that locking up pitchers to long-term deals is risky.
• The Yankees don't want to surrender a draft pick to sign a Type A free agent like Scott Downs, according to Newsday's Ken Davidoff (on Twitter).
• It's unlikely that the Yankees will agree to a deal with Derek Jeter next week, according to Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com.
• There's been a lot of Moneyball talk about the Mets front office, but Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports believes Sandy Alderson, J.P. Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta are not about ideology. "This is about picking the right players and all of the different ways it can be done."
• Alderson interviewed Clint Hurdle and Don Wakamatsu at Citi Field yesterday, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com.  Next up, the GM will interview Mets Triple-A manager Ken Oberkfell in the Dominican Republic.
• Omir Santos and Mike Hessman are free agents after refusing minor league assignments, according to Rubin (on Twitter).

• The Mets announced that GM Sandy Alderson will interview in-house candidates Wally Backman, Terry Collins, and Chip Hale in California this weekend, writes Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com.  Earlier today the Mets sat down with Bob Melvin and Dave Jauss in New York.
• Giants GM Brian Sabean says that the club will soon make an offer to Aubrey Huff and will "certainly be in discussions" with Juan Uribe, writes Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News.
• Expect the Rockies to call Kevin Gregg's agent, tweets Troy Renck of The Denver Post.
• Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols said that he hopes to work out an extension with the club before Opening Day, according to the Associated Press.
• Jonathan Maurer, the agent for Brandon Webb, says that several teams have already contacted him with interest in his client, according to the Associated Press.  We learned yesterday that Webb would like to return to Arizona but that seems unlikely.
• After turning down his end of a mutual option today, Scott Podsednik is still in talks with the Dodgers, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
• The Denver Post's Troy Renck says that Jorge de la Rosa hasn't been presented with an offer from the Rockies since last winter when he instead opted to take a one-year deal in arbitration.
• The Mets dropped five players from the 40-man roster today including Jesus Feliciano and Omir Santos, tweets Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com.

• Stark lists 16 players currently on the trade block. Among the names we haven't seen mentioned recently: Willie Harris, Andy Marte, Tim Stauffer, Omir Santos, and Brad Thomas.
• The Mets are looking to move one of their extra catchers, either Santos or Chris Coste, and are looking to add "major league-ready triple-A pitching depth." Aren't we all…
• The Phillies are looking to add all sorts of pitching depth, and have interest in the recently released Chad Gaudin.
• Scott Sizemore's rocky spring has the Tigers looking for a second base upgrade.
• Kansas City is shopping Brayan Pena in their perpetual search for starting pitching.
• The Braves have told other clubs that David Ross is available, "possibly in a catcher-for-catcher swap for a younger backup-catcher type."

• Arangure (via Twitter) writes that the A's have agreed to terms with Michael Feliz, a right-hander from the Dominican Republic.  The deal, which is still pending a physical and an age investigation, will provide Feliz with an $800K bonus.  The Dominican Prospect League website says that the 6'4, 200-pound hurler is 16-years-old.
• Tim tweets that Bobby Kielty is converting to pitching, and that his slider is actually pretty good. The 33-year-old last played in the big leagues back in 2007, when he was still an outfielder of course.
• ESPN's Jorge Arangure tweets that the Blue Jays, Rockies, and Rangers are the teams most interested in Cuban first baseman Jose Julio Ruiz. Ruiz was recently cleared to sign by the Office of Foreign Asset Control.
• Pat Gillick has returned to the Phillies as a senior advisor to president Dave Montgomery, reports Bob Elliott of The Toronto Sun. Gillick was the team's GM from 2006-2008. 
• ESPN's Buster Olney spoke to several talent evaluators, none of whom think Omir Santos is equipped to be a number one catcher. If the season started today, Santos would likely be behind the plate for the Mets. 

• Just what would it take, hypothetically, to bring Adrian Gonzalez to Queens? Noble believes a package of John Maine, Fernando Martinez and Ike Davis "and perhaps more would be one to consider seriously."
• Noble likes Joel Pineiro more than Jason Marquis, adding that "I know the Mets are interested in [Bengie] Molina."
• He says that while Mark DeRosa wouldn't be a top priority, "If they can't bring back Alex Cora, DeRosa would an even better fit."
• He counters a fan's proposal to trade "Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez and Omir Santos to the Angels for Erick Aybar, Gary Matthews Jr., Ervin Santana and Jeff Mathis" with one of his own: "How about Perez for the rights to Albie Pearson?" Pearson was the 1958 AL Rookie of the Year, of course.

As usual, Noble is must-reading.

• Ray Ratto of CBSSports.com writes about the news from court filings this week that the Mets may have gained $48MM in the Bernie Madoff swindle, rather than lost a previously-reported range of $300MM to $700MM. Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily good news. Those who lost money to Madoff are in the process of suing the Madoff winners, and the uncertainty over $48MM could complicate offseason plans for the Mets.
• Metsblog's Matt Cerrone believes the Mets will return Josh Thole to Triple-A for more seasoning, and find a defense-first catcher to split time with Omir Santos. He mentioned Rod Barajas specifically, who seems like the best fit for a team that could use some offense from the position, too.
• Licey Tigers manager Dave Jauss was in New York on Monday to discuss a position with the Mets. Jauss managed in the Montreal system, receiving the honor of Eastern League Manager of the Year in 1994.